Inseparable
by Lord Voldemort XIV
Summary: Everyone knew the two were inseparable. They had experienced things that even age old couples hadn't. They had experienced things that no other living mortals had. After what they had gone through in Tartarus, the world is a mere fragment of what they survived. This unbreakable bond is what made them inseparable. Some existentialism, but full Percabeth.


**Disclaimer: Don't own PJO nor shall I in the future. Cover picture by theangelicscribe on DeviantArt.**

**Takes place after MOA.**

**Some existentialist and isolationism will be present in the story.**

Annabeth Chase sat on her bed, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor of her dorm room. She had been attending Emma Willard's Boarding School these past eight months since the war with Gaea and needless to say, school was a rote nuisance after the incident. That's how everyone at camp referred to it as behind their backs, 'the incident'. The whispers followed her and Percy everywhere, gossiping campers silently pointing at them, exchanging opinions. No matter what their version of the story was, there was one thing that all the campers agreed on: the two had changed since their return, no longer the young heroic couple, but a couple that had aged a lifetime in a single month.

Annabeth half regretted getting her mother's consent to stay in New York. After consecutive hours of arguing and compromise, Lady Athena had given Annabeth permission to stay in New York as long as she didn't attend the same school as Percy Jackson. No, it wasn't because she despised his heritage. It wasn't even Percy Jackson's guts that she hated, but even Athena had doubts on her daughter's lack of concentration were she to attend the same school as her boyfriend.

The two had been virtually inseparable in the months following their fall to the Tartarus. Having seen horrors that no humans alive had ever witnessed, the two heroes had plausible excuses for their changed behavior. It was as though the fall through Tartarus had been one through a vortex, a vortex that had warped everything that they had experienced in their mortal life thus far, giving them a clearer perspective on the real worth of a mere human life. This same vortex had done something else to the two. They had merged into one person, dependent on one another to survive.

Although she understood her mother's reasoning, Annabeth was in no way in agreement with the decision. A key factor of her moving to New York was to spend more time with Percy. Despite many attempts to meet over the past few months, the two had only successfully met on Christmas Day and Valentine's Day, that too after months of planning.

It was either swim practice, busy on Olympus, or simply school itself that prevented the two young lovers from meeting. It was a problem that even the Aphrodite, was finding difficult to fix. Despite her ability, there was nothing in the power of the Goddess of Love to help them. The Fates just didn't allow them the chance to meet, intent on keeping the lovers apart even further. Annabeth blamed the Fates for expecting the two to return to seemingly normal lives after their experience.

As was the case today, similar to most other Fridays, Annabeth was alone in her dorm room, meaninglessly staring out the window of her dreary, drab room. She watched as the sky changed from a light, sky blue to the deep reddish, orange tint that streaked across the pink clouds.

Even rooming with the school's most popular girl didn't do much to boost her social interaction with those around her. Many had tried to approach her, befriend her, but those who had were frightened away almost immediately upon viewing the coldness in those steely, gray eyes. It wasn't intentional. Annabeth didn't want to be an outcast, but that's what people made her out to be with the attitude. More than anything, they felt she was condescending, silently judging them unbeknownst to them.

A side-effect of her experiences in the darkest abyss of the Underworld, Annabeth's condescendence was legitimized. None of them had experienced anything remotely close to what she and Percy had in their time in Tartarus. They didn't understand. It wasn't just the mortals. They didn't understand like the campers, her mother, the gods. No one understood except for Percy. Only he knew what it was like to survive one of the universe's most terrifying realms, a realm that no human should dare approach.

Only a select few of her classmates held Annabeth's confidence. And that wasn't due to any common interest, but more of a forced, mutual understanding. Those who spent time around her knew better than to talk to Annabeth unless she herself approached them. To these people, it wasn't that Annabeth frightened them, but they were afraid to startle Annabeth out of her reverie.

The one time they had done so, the experience hadn't ended well. As per usual, Annabeth was leaning against the trunk of the giant oak on campus, her eyes closed as she murmured softly in an incomprehensible language. The girl had only been at the school for a week. Some genius thought it was a brilliant idea to drop a black spider in her lap. The old Annabeth would have let out a screech, dusting the spider off. But this Annabeth had stood up, the raging fury clearly etched in her cloudy, silver eyes. It wasn't the words that had scared them. In fact, she hadn't uttered a single word. Her expression was enough. It wasn't one of anger directed at them. More than anger, the fury was infused with an inexplicable internal sadness.

Since that day, none of them dared approach her. Annabeth trusted those who knew how to keep a distance from her, a reciprocation that she too kept. She was still looking endlessly out the window as her roommate rushed into room in a state of high spirits. Her roommate was the one person that Annabeth's reciprocation went beyond that of an acquaintance, something closer to a friend. Sighing internally, Annabeth concluded that her roommate had found a new boy in the neighboring boys' boarding school to go on a date for.

She expected her to beginning describing the guy as she normally did. Although she didn't show it, Annabeth would listen to Elizabeth's description of boys with some mild interest. It wasn't that she was interested in them. Nothing would make her leave Percy, nothing at all. But, Elizabeth was Annabeth's connection the real world. Elizabeth was her untainted eyes of the world, eyes that had never witnessed Tartarus.

Never failing to please, Elizabeth prattled on as she changed. There was a huge commotion going on outside about a new boy. No, he was not a boy that went to the neighboring boys' boarding school. He seemed too much of a 'bad boy' to go that private school. Then, who was he?

Nobody seemed to know. Supposedly, there was a crowd of girls encircling him, but he stood there wordlessly, leaning on his blue motorbike. Teachers had approached him, going to tell him off for being at a girls' only boarding school without any identification or apparent purpose. But even as they approached, his silent presence spoke more than words could have. He was waiting. He had purpose. He was waiting for someone who meant more than the universe to him.

Elizabeth piqued Annabeth's curiosity at the description of this powerful, young man. Silently getting up to change into more appropriate clothes, Annabeth followed Elizabeth out the door, much to the latter's astonishment. Annabeth had never shown interest in anyone before, so why now?

Not being able to find a reasonable explication, Elizabeth led the way down the stairs and out the front doors of the dorm building. The flight of stairs separating the two seemed to be an eternity apart.

His sea green eyes stared directly at her, the green locking eyes with the gray. At that moment nothing else mattered in the world to them. It was only them, all alone. The world around her was filled with pitch black darkness. There was only one star in the sky; this star was him. Closing the gap as fast as she could, Annabeth ran, ran as fast her legs could carry her till she was safely in his arms; one arm wrapped around her waist as the other ran through her blond curls. The ever-present ocean scent of his body enveloped her, comforting her.

He opened his mouth. Percy didn't need to say it, but he did so anyway. As quiet as he was, the pin drop silence in the background made his words crystal clear for everyone to hear, "I love you, Annabeth Chase."

As she raised her head up to his, he lowered his face down to her as if perfectly timed. They were in unison, no, they were one and the same entity as his lips pressed against hers. She wanted him, kissing him back. It wasn't a want, it was a need. He was the anchor in her life, the anchor of reality that held the world stable around her. Without him, the world would have no light to illuminate it.

**So, I started off with plans to write a comedy…And then a cliché story… And it ended with existential angst. Says something about my personality, doesn't it?**

**Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review or fave with your opinions. **


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